How much exercise do dogs need? How far should I be walking my puppy? Does a dog need to run free of its lead to be happy? These are the sorts of questions I get asked all the time, and unfortunately there is no quick answer or set requirement.

Puppies

When exercising puppies you need to be aware of their growing bones, where to much exercise and/or high impact exercise such as chasing balls, should be avoided. Large and Giant breeds are generally slower growing than the smaller or medium sized breeds and therefore may require limited/restricted exercise for longer. It is always to speak both to the breeder of your dog and your vet to further discuss. With my own dogs I have always stuck to the guide of 5 minutes exercise per month of age. Therefore a 10 week old puppy should be getting around 10 minutes lead walking and a small amount of free play per day. However this is just my own opinion based on the types and breeds of dogs I have owned and advice I have personally received over the years.

As physical exercise should be reduced in puppies, now is a great time to get rid of their excess energy providing mental stimulation and exercise which should help to tire them out! Great ideas include using food releasing toys rather than a bowl to feed their meals (Buster Cubes and Dog food games are great), scattering treats and biscuits across the garden for them to find and search for, interactive play and games with the family and teaching your puppy new commands and tricks using its daily food as rewards. Attending a good puppy training class, such as the Go Fetch It Puppy Socialisation Classes can help you and your puppy learn good manners and obedience

Adult Dogs

Again here there is no hard and fast rules which we can apply, but a bit of common sense and some good advice from a vet should give you a good gauge of how much exercise your dog will require.

Firstly, assuming that your dog is healthy and does not suffer from any conditions which affect its physical ability (such as hip dysplasia), we need to initially look at the breed or type of dog that you own.  Typical working breeds such as Collies (Boarder, working sheepdog, Bearded, Shetland sheep dog etc.), working type terriers (Jack Russells, Patterdales, Fox Terriers etc.) and working line Gundog breeds (Working Cockers, Labradors, Springer Spaniels, Hunt Point Retrieve breeds) often have higher exercise requirements then say your ‘companion’ breed dogs such as the Shih-Tzu, Boston Terrier, King Charles Spaniel and Pug. The Kennel Club provide a great breed reference which can give you exercise guidelines for each breed- have a look at this one for the Labrador.

Again with adult dogs you need to give them outlets for their mental energy also- and again here be inventive, find new  ways of ‘interactive’ feeding rather than using a bowl, enrol in a pet obedience training class such as the Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme or if you have an active dog you may want to try your paw at some Agility.

If you have a dog which cannot be trusted off lead have a look at our 1-2-1 training or Behavioural services and see if we can help! A dog which returns when called and can be trusted running free is a joy to own!

I have also decided to enter Mac into his first Working Trials Competition. We have a little way to go on the training, mainly on the ‘Sendaway’ which requires the handler to send the dog to a designated point as picked out by the judge (e.g.hedge, bush, tree) on command- This exercise is much like the ‘send to bed’ command which we practise in our advanced class but much further in distance, and without a bed at the end! I will enter him into the ‘Intro’ stake for our first efforts, which is the entry level for newcomers to the sport. Now all I have to do is find a trial which isn’t too far from Bristol. Being a ‘sport’ with fewer numbers that dog sports like Obedience and Agility, you often have to travel all over the country for Working Trials.

The main reason however for doing all these things with my dogs is just for fun, I am not super competitive, and only want to do it for enjoyment purposes and because the dogs seem to love their training so much! I won’t ever be a hard-nosed, serious, competitive type- that’s just not me! Watch this space for more updates!

In the last few months family, friends and fellow dog trainers have noticed some rather bizarre and uncharacteristic behaviour coming from Mac. The once obedient, loyal and sensible puppy has transformed into a brainless, fumbling, sniffing obsessed, sometimes anti-social (loves to wee on everything..) fool.

What happened you may ask… Mac is now approaching the grand old age of 1 and a half… and in Dobermann years (who I have been told don’t grow up until they are at least 3) is in the midst of Adolescence. What does that mean for rather large, entire male dog? See below bullet points and if you can recognise any or all of the behaviour in your young male dog then perhaps you too need to swat up on dealing with canine adolescence:

1. Sniffing is now the most enjoyable thing to do- especially if lady dogs have left their mark.
2. Sniffing is often accompanied by chit chat noises with the teeth, then followed by drooling and salivating.
3. Any lamp post/wall/bush/tree is now a designated toilet unless otherwise told so.
4. Selective hearing when lady dogs are about, or when he is otherwise consumed in another dogs bottom.
5. Likes to show his size and stature off to approaching dogs, then whimpers away when he realises he is not so brave.
6. We have days, sometimes weeks where everything is once again scary despite seeing it all before.
7. He loons around as if someone has extracted all his brains and replaced them with sawdust.
8. He daily tries his luck on getting up on the Sofa without me seeing, then pretends he can’t hear me when I tell him to get off.
9. He has decided that human bottoms are also worth a sniff which makes for embarrassing walks and greetings with friends.
10. He has forgotten what it means to walk on a loose lead- opting for pulling instead.. not so quick mate.. we are now having headcollar walks.
11. I could go on but you would be bored to death!!!

How does all this make me feel? Frustrated, tired and sometimes putting him into the local paper in the ‘free to a good home’ section (jokes).. I am sure any of you reading this with teenage children can perhaps also relate to it (perhaps not the nose up dogs bottoms bit..!!). What am I going to do about it I hear you cry.. simply back to basics. Back to foundations of training, focus work, making him earn a few more of his privileges and training, training, training!!!

Teach your puppy mouthing is not acceptable

When  proud new owners talk about their puppies I often hear lines like “Oh but he’s only 6 months old of course he’s just over excitable” or I am asked, as the owner reaches for the box of plasters after being bitten for the fourth time in the last hour “when will he grow out of his play-biting?”. Maybe “Oh he’s only playing, he has to learn bite inhibition” sounds more familiar.

What you have to ask yourself when observing any behaviours that your puppy is carrying out is:
“Is this something which I would be happy my dogs does when he is an adult?”

If the answer to this question is no then I suggest you immediately stop rewarding the behaviour, or seek some professional advice on how to stop your dog carrying out the behaviour. A puppy learns at an alarming rate and through exploration, trial and error and through training our puppies can learn to carry out a whole range of behaviours, both ones we like and encourage and ones which we are not so enthusiastic about. Take the common problem of ‘play-biting’ this has to be one of my favourites and a very common one that I am asked for help about. Take this situation:

Freddy is a 18 month old German Shepherd cross, he’s a lovely and friendly dog, has been well socialised and enjoys the company of both people and other dogs. He currently weighs in at 41kgs so is a large male adult dog. Ever since he has been a puppy he has been very much into mouthing and play-biting as his owners tell me, which started off very soft and gentle and was generally carried out when he was excited or wanted to play. His owners did not discourage the behaviour as they were told by someone that it was a normal puppy behaviour and the dog had to learn bite inhibition as part of its learning process.  Only recently has the ‘play-biting’ got a little over the top and now the owners want to stop it. The owner pulls up her sleeve and her arm is black and blue from her dogs ‘play’ antics. The owner said she is getting a little worried, especially as Grandma Maude came around recently and the dogs playing was not acceptable as Grandma had fragile skin and bruised easily. So his own now, on advise of someone else, gives Freddy a nice toy to play with every time he goes to ‘play-bite’ so that he has something to distract him, he takes the toy usually but very quickly looses interest and comes back for more ‘play-biting’ with his owner.

The first thing that crosses my mind when I hear such a story is at what point does a pet dog need to learn bite inhibition on human skin? Surely a pet dog owner would never WANT their dogs to bite them therefore why does the dog need to practise biting us using an inhibited bite??  Secondly, when was biting ever fun? Would it ever be acceptable if your child bit his class mate in play? I think not. This is something I have never understood, if my dogs accidently bit me even in play I would be most alarmed and upset, my dogs learn from day one that at no point do they put open mouths to skin, even in ‘play’. Why? Because when they are adult do I want them playing with me with their teeth? Do I want them playing the same ‘play-biting’ game with my young nephew? Absolutely not, and therefore I at no point see it as an acceptable behaviour in a puppy. So how does this cute puppy ‘play-biting’ turn into the full grown adult dog which has left its owners arm covered in bruises? A very few simple steps:

1)      Puppy is not discouraged from biting human skin softly as owner believes the puppy is learning to play-bite.

2)      Puppy learns that generally speaking when it bites its owner in play it is rewarded with interaction, affection or a fun game of rough and tumble.

3)      Owner is on a phone call and is not giving the puppy attention, puppy has learnt that ‘play-biting’ normally works and goes to its owner and bites at their hand and arm for attention and to start a game.

4)      Owner ignores puppy so it bites a little harder- this time instantly getting the desired response of attention from the owner.         The puppy has learnt now it just needs to bite a little harder to start this familiar game.

5)      Five months down the line the puppy is learning to bite harder and harder as the owner in an attempt to curb the behaviour ignores the puppy until it bites hard (they cannot help reacting it hurts) at which point the dog instantly receives interaction and attention from the owner. The owner pushes the dog away (“great, a game of rough and tumble” says the dog!), but it keeps coming back for more with harder and harder bites each time.

6)      Finally the owner starts to give the dog toys when it carries out this behaviour, sometimes throwing them to encourage a more desirable game- the dog learns the best way to get a game is to bite my owner hard.

7)      The dog has learnt through trial and error and through reinforcement from the owner that biting is acceptable, always results in attention and more often than not results in a game. So if you want to initiate a game or want some attention biting is the way forward, the harder the better.

Scary isn’t it. Now this poor dog which has been taught this ‘play-biting’ since a puppy gets severely reprimanded when it carries out the behaviour with Grandma Maude, a highly confused dog now has just learnt to fear its owner whenever Grandma Maude is present as the normal friendly playful owner turns highly unpredictable in Grandma’s presence, this is the beginning of a whole host of other problems…

So as a new puppy owner what should you do? Never encourage or reward (remember even your attention counts as a reward) any behaviour which you don’t want your dog to carry out when it is an adult. Dogs do not need to learn bite inhibition with humans as has it ever been acceptable that a dogs learns to play with you with its teeth? The best way to stop this problem, is to never allow it to happen. Take this as a personal example:

Sitting on the sofa minding my own business Mac puppy comes up to me and as I go down to pet his head he turns his face and places his open jaws on my hands and gently mouths. Instantly I emit the loudest and most shrill noise I can make, making out that this action from Mac has caused me great pain. Mac darts away, a little alarmed at the noise I have made. I sulk for the next 15 minutes, nursing my hand, head low and avoid all eye contact with Mac. He believes he has really hurt me, this is not something he ever intended to do. He has learnt that I am so fragile that even the most gentle of mouths on my skin hurts. Following this brief encounter with ‘play-biting’ has he ever carried out the behaviour again? NO. Will he ever initiate play using his teeth on my skin or clothes? No, and no to the extend that if I put my hand into his open mouth he will refuse to close it upon my hand. Mac has never learnt to use his teeth on my skin in play or for any other reason. It was never acceptable when he was 7 weeks old, and to this day he has never forgotten that lesson when he thought he had really hurt me. Simple, fair and very effective. Try it next time your puppy goes to bite your hand ‘in play’.

Not so big now Boots!

The development of a Dobermann puppy 8 weeks – 5 months!

Mr. Macintosh is now a 5 months old!!! It seems like only yesterday that he was a tiny little 8 week old puppy full of wrinkles and too much skin for his frame!! When we picked up Mac he was under 10kg, smaller in height than my little terrier and easy to pick up and carry around. At 20 weeks he has changed a lot now weighing in at 23kg, being decidedly taller than my terrier, and feet so big we get stopped out walking and people ask me if he is a Great Dane!!!!

Breed Traits vs. Learnt Behaviour

In any puppies development these first 6 months are crucial. This is a time where puppies can absorb a lot of learning, where all their five senses of Smell, Hearing, Sight, Touch and Taste are fully developed and where most puppies have found their new home away from their litter and original breeder. Mac puppy as he grows is showing a vast range of learnt behaviours and some of his innate/breed specific behaviours are also very apparent. Breed specific behaviours are part of a dogs genetic coding. In much the same way as a breed of dog may be identifiable by how it looks, its genetic behaviour code will also carry certain breed behavioural traits. Take the Border Collie, this dog is a natural herder, this is an instinctive drive that the Collie carries out. You may see ‘urban’ Collies chasing car wheels, or herding other dogs in the park, this is the exact behaviour we have bred the Collies to carry out- you cannot change how a Border Collie looks and you cannot change their innate drives, only control and manage them.

A black and tan German Terrier?

Dobermans belong to the ‘working group’ of breeds and were originally bred for personal protection/security work, but you may also have heard them being called Doberman Pinschers. ‘Pinscher’ is a direct german translation of “Terrier”, and the Doberman Pinscher had both German terrier (German Pinscher) and Manchester Terrier in its breeding. This may help explain Mac’s penchant for digging, during the cold weather. I have just been filling the old hole in the garden with dog mess when he is not looking (deters him from digging a lawn crater!!) in the spring we will be buying him a sandpit to fill with goodies, bones, toys in which he can dig to his hearts content!

A black and tan Greyhound?

If you have ever seen a fully grown Doberman they look quite elegant with a long whipperty tail, they are also capable of great speed. This may be due to the “Greyhound” genes which again were one of the breeds originally used to create the Doberman. Mac very much looks like a Greyhound when in full gallop at a distance! Dobermanns can have quite a high ‘prey drive’ by this I mean the instinctive behaviour of a carnivore to hunt and capture prey. Some breeds have a higher ‘prey drive’ than others, and again here we need to look at breed heritage. Both the greyhound, and the Terrier in the Doberman would have elevated the ‘prey drive’ as both of these breeds have been specifically developed to pursue and capture prey. Prey drive can be advantageous in dog training because dogs with strong prey drive are also willing to pursue moving objects such as toys, which can then be used to encourage certain kinds of behaviour, such as the speed required in dog agility or as an exciting and motivating reward for training. The key word here is ‘control’ a dog with a high pray drive can be beneficial in the right environment but detrimental in the wrong circumstances. Mac shows he has a high prey drive. He is fascinated with movement and enjoys to chase, and he is certainly very quick! I have tried to channel his desire to pursue and capture into games and play so daily fetch/retrieve games, chase the Frisbee, capture the tuggy toy etc. have all helped me gain control of his prey drive and use it to my advantage. However I need to be aware of his natural drives and will always secure him on leash when I see joggers/cyclists/cats/children running etc, this is an easy management technique which I can use with him until I have confidence in a long stay amongst distractions (we have built up to a couple of minutes down stay whilst I throw his ball as a distraction so getting there!).

A black and tan Scent Hound?

Dobermanns have incredible noses and are sometimes categorised as Scent Hounds. The Dobermann, bred for a modern guard work, is a direct descendant of German black and tan hounds (FOGLE, 2007). So if given the chance Mac will constantly have his nose on the floor and this has been one of my challenges to overcome when walking him on the lead as with his head down and nose to the floor if given the chance he would pull like a train- ever heard the expression ‘don’t let a horse have its head’? Think about it, with a horse, if its head goes to the floor it negates the control of the bit in the mouth and therefore is free to run away with rider if it so desires, no amount of pulling back will help! Same with a dog- head down, nose to floor, lean into collar and PULL!! Mac has an innate drive to track and follow scent and again here I have tried to give him an outlet for it. We do lots of ‘find it’ games where he has to find hidden toys and treats using his scenting and tracking ability to search for them.  I often scatter feed him in the garden so he has to scent and search for his dinner. I also aim to do Working Trials with him, a dog sport where there is a strong tracking and searching element to the competitions, the recent weather however has somewhat thwarted my training!

A Black and tan Guard Dog?

Mac loves to let you know if anyone is coming to the door or even walking past the garden. A  Dobermann should bark when anyone approaches the property. This is precisely what the breed was developed to do- guard people and property (ROGERSON, 2010). I am aware this is a breed trait and again the key word here is control. A bored Dobermann with pent up mental and physical energy left to its own devises in a back yard is LIKELY to become a noise nuisance to the owner’s neighbours. They have been bred to be territorial and to guard. With Mac he has supervised access to the garden, and we spend a lot of time (when it’s not ankle deep in snow) playing in the garden with toys and training in the garden. I often scatter his food across the patio and lawn for him to search out and find so that he has a job to do other than guarding when he is in the garden. I have also started to train him to ‘SPEAK’ on command and ‘QUIET’ on command this will also help me gain some control over his natural drive to use his voice, and again hopefully use this to my advantage! This is why it is so important to consider breed and breed characteristics before purchasing a puppy or rehoming a dog- remember you cannot change breed characteristics in the same way that you cannot make a Dobermann look like a Shih-Tzu!! You can however train your breed of dog to perform the tasks of any other breed of dog. For example a Labrador has a natural desire to retrieve (Labrador Retriever as they were bred for gundogs retrieving foul) a Dobermann had no natural desire to retrieve but has a strong desire to possess. Therefore an essential early lesson to teach a dog of a guarding/possessive nature is the concept of sharing and this can be done by teaching a strong retrieve (i.e to bring something back and give it to you on command). This was Mac’s first lesson, and one which he has now fine tuned to the point I can ask him to bring back and give anything which he has taken hold of including bones/chews and other high value items.  I can also point out things such as car keys, shoes and even pieces of paper to bring back to me! It is also great command to teach when I want him to return items of clothing stolen from the washing line!!! Was it as easy as teaching a Labrador to retrieve? Absolutely not,  but through training Mac has leant a great retrieve and this has become one of his favourite games.

Control of breed characteristics and learnt behaviour.

On top of all his instinctive drives and the development of his breed characteristics Mac has also learnt some new behaviours. These are behaviours which I have trained him to do and that he now performs on voice or hand signal. To date Mac has quite a repertoire of commands, some are very useful, others are just a bit of fun. All of these command helps to release mental energy and give him a job to do, help improve his obedience and help make him a very loyal and enjoyable companion to own. At 20 weeks Mac has learnt the following which we try to practise and build upon each day:

Sit
Sit at distance
Down
Down at distance
Stand
Recall- return when called
Leave item/food
Wait [any position] (temporary stay before recall/other command)
Stay Sit
Stay Down
Stay Stand
Retrieve
Give (retrieved item)
Walk on a loose lead
Heel on/off leash(formal obedience)
Halt (formal obedience)
About turn (Formal obedience)
Return to Basket
Off (furniture/sideboard etc!)
Wait at door
Give Paw
Give other Paw
Speak on command
Bounce! (see vid!)
Find it (object)
Touch (target stick/hand)

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

My new year’s resolution is going to be to teach him a new command/trick every day as well as make sure I regularly attend his working trails training, despite the weather and 1.5 hour journey it takes me to get there! Second New Year’s resolution is to keep up to date with my blog, so watch this space for more frequent updates and articles in 2011!!

Works Cited

FOGLE, D. B. (2007). THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE DOG. LONDON: DORLING KINDERSLEY.

ROGERSON, J. (2010). THE DOG VINCI CODE. LONDON: JOHN BLAKE PUBLISHING LTD.

Boots dons his Santa outfit

Well here we are again another year has gone by- where does the time go! The festive season is a tricky one for all out pets, especially our beloved dogs. The excitement is often overwhelming with all the visitors and there are doggy temptations around every corner- notably the Christmas tree!! It is also a time where our dogs routines may change slightly, where they perhaps get accustomed to spending much more time in the company of their family, and perhaps a time when they get a little more spoilt. It is really important this Christmas that your dog continues to receive training and boundaries to follow, as well as receiving all the nice rewards that Christmas brings.

First and foremost it is every owner duty to ensure that they are familiar of all the things which can be poisonous to our dogs and I have complied a short list of a few of the more common ones which the dogs may encounter around the Christmas period:

Chocolate- in any format (drinking choc, dark, white and milk, cocoa powder etc.)
Raw Potatoes
Onion
Raisins, Currents and Grapes
Artificial Sweeteners: as found in some confectionary/chewing gum
Alcohol
Avocado
Coffee/Tea and other Caffeine
Macadamia nuts

Also be aware of Christmas wrapping bits being left around as string and rubber bands swallowed by dogs can cause enormous problems and are likely to need an emergency visit to the vets. Obviously if you suspect that your dog may have eaten or swallowed something poisonous or otherwise dangerous a visit to your vet is a must, even if your dog has not started to shown any physical signs!!

It is also essential that your dog knows and understands a LEAVE command as this can be a lifesaver, literally, when your dog is encountering the many food temptations that Christmas brings. Below is a quick way to teach your dog to Leave on command and obviously you can then extend this training to different objects and different environments to help generalise the behaviour:

Leave food on floor/in bowl

1. First ensure that the dog looks at you before eating. Place bowl with a few treats in it on the floor and hold lead back so the dog cannot get to the treats. Stand up straight.

2. Wait for the dog to look at you in the face and wait patiently without saying anything!

3. The second the dog looks at you immediately give the chosen release command this could be OK or GOOD DOG and allow the dog to eat the contents of the bowl.

4. As the dog learns that it has to look at you before it is allowed to eat you can gradually extend the time the dog is looking at you before you give the release command. If the dog gets frustrated and looks away just wait patiently and release when it is once again looking at you.

5. Make sure the tension on the lead is completely released as you give your release command. With practise you should be able to release the tension on the lead all together and the dog will wait until given the release command

6. If the dog is able to wait for 5 seconds looking at you before the release- you can now get your dog to sit and look at you before the release is given each time. If you are already doing this naturally then great!

7. Now the dog has learnt to wait and look at you before food is taken and the release command is given you can command your dog to sit and introduce the command LEAVE whilst the dog waits, then follow with the release command. Your dog can then associate the word LEAVE with pausing before being allowed to eat.

8. Practice this exercise around the home, in the garden and out walking. It will come in handy more than you will realise!!

Leave food in the hand.

1. Feed your dog a titbit and give the command ‘take it’ which indicates to your dog that you have given the food for him to take.

2. Repeat several times until your dog has got used to hearing ‘take it’ and being allowed a treat.

3. Now put the treat in an enclosed fist and do not say anything or open your fist. Initally your dog will lick, paw and pester your hand for the reward. Say and do nothing.

4. The minute your dog becomes bored of pestering for the treat, or looks away- immediately reward with ‘take it’ and feeding your dog the treat.

5. The dog begins to learn that backing away from the treat he is rewarded, and pestering and demanding the treat he does not get rewarded.

6. Once your dog is backing off every time you have a treat enclosed in your fist you can add the command ‘LEAVE’ as your dog backs away- this will now be the command for leaving food. Make sure you continue to reward the dog with the command ‘take it’ as he backs away.

7. Continue to practise and gradually get to the stage where you can open your fist with the treat on show and use the command LEAVE to indicate

to your dog to back off from the food!

Mrs. Claus and her naughty terrier helper!

Happy Training and have a Merry and Peaceful Christmas and New Year!

Teaching your dog or puppy to focus on your and give you its attention on cue is a vital training lesson. Without your dogs attention and focus it is impossible to teach it to respond to commands and in the presence of distractions at dog with no focus on its owner is easily ‘out of control’. The command “Watch Me” may seem very basic, but it is a stepping stone to all of the other obedience work you will be doing with your dog. This command allows you to get your dogs attention and relay the message that you are wanting him to pay attention to you. Distractible puppies often have a hard time mastering the “watch me” command as they are rambunctious packages of energy who have a difficult time focusing on anything! This simple exercise will take patience. It is the foundation to all of the other training you do in the future.

Other Benefits For Teaching Focus With Your Dog

Dogs communicate mainly through body language and use vocalisations in addition. When faced with training a dog a new command or trying to communicate with the dog the initial response for most people is to speak to the dog or give vocal commands and instructions. What we sometimes forget to remember is that dogs do not speak English!!!  It is by far easier to teach your dog using a series of hand signals and body language to communicate to your dog, adding vocal commands to learnt responses at a later date if you wish. By teaching your dog to focus on you it is engaging with your face, and your emotions- a dog which understands a human smile is pleasant and is not a snarl, or understands the look of disappointment or disgust comprehends human body language and communication and is a dog which is less likely to be confused by a babbling handler who assumes his dog speaks English!

How To Teach The Watch Command

As with training all new commands initially start in a low distraction environment so you will have the greatest chance of gaining your dogs attention. Ideally this is a great command to start teaching with food, either your dogs main meal food or some tasty titbits. My favourite way is to actually use the dogs bowl and main food to begin with.

METHOD 1

1. Make up your dogs food in his bowl and have him in the same room as you as your do it.
2. With your dog on a lead put his bowl down on the floor gently holding him back off the bowl making sure that you relax the lead as he relaxes.
3. Be patient- do not allow your dog to get to the food simply wait- the moment that your dog glances up at you instantly reward your dog with ‘good dog’ and allow it to take the food.
4. Practise this method several times a day over a few days with your dogs lead on and waiting gradually a little longer each day with your dogs focus on you before releasing him to the bowl.
5. Once you are able to put the bowl on the floor and your dog to instantly give you his attention  until released you can then start adding the command ‘WATCH’ or ‘LOOK’ to the moment that your dog focuses on you and if you want use a hand signal such as touching your finger to your eye in combination with the command.
6. Continue to repeat the exercise several times a day associating the command/hand signal WATCH or LOOK with the moment that your dog is focused on you, not the bowl!
7. Try then to prompt the command at dinner time before the dog focuses on you and see if your dog whips around to look at you- if so you know your dog understands the command and he can be rewarded with an instant Jackpot of his dinner!!

METHOD 2

1. Have your dog on the lead in a low distraction environment in your home/training class.
2. Have several tasty treats in your hand and show the dog that you have some treats in your hand.
3. If your dog takes and interest and follows your hand- bring your hand up to your face so that the treats are level with your eye (so the dog looks at your face rather than at your hand by your side!!)and using a finger to touch near your eye as a hand signal for ‘watch’ .
4. If your dog remains focused on you instantly give a reward from your hand and praise your dog.
5. Walk around the room and stand still- don’t follow your dog or move anywhere or try to prompt him to look just wait patiently. If your dog turns his attention to you instantly bring your hand to your face as before for the hand signal of the ‘WATCH’ command and reward your dog with a treat.
6. Repeat several times until all the treats in your hand have gone- by now when you stand still it should not take long for your dog to turn and focus on you.
7. Once your dog is repeating the above really quickly when you stand still and stop interacting with him you can then start adding the cue ‘WATCH’ timed when the dog is actually looking up at your face.
8. Repeat the above several times a day in different environments gradually building on how many distractions there are in your training environment. See if your dog has learnt the cue for the behaviour by prompting ‘WATCH’ when you do not have your dogs attention and see if he turns around to look- if so reward him with a ‘jackpot’ of 5 or more treats in a row!

HAPPY TRAINING!

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Here is my little Jack Russell Boots showing a collection of some of his favourite tricks. He loves being taught new tricks and now has a little repertoire of commands he will perform on cue. Trick training is a great way to improve your dogs obedience and most dogs really enjoy the fun of learning something new. Aside from more formal obedience trick training gives both dog and owners a good outlet for their more creative and fun side, and makes a great talking point at a family get together or party!

TEACHING TRICKS TO PERFORM TASKS!

You can also teach your dog ‘useful’ tricks such as find your keys on command (believe me, Boots is a lifesaver when it comes to key finding when I’m in a hurry!!), or fetch your slippers or the post. Training tricks also gives an outlet for your dogs mental energy, for instance in hunting for keys you dog will practice scenting and tracking (great for very ‘nosy’ dogs like spaniels and hounds!) and this can lead on to all sorts of ‘find the item’ games. You can train a dog to do pretty much anything on command and if you’re really clever you can link a series of commands into a sequence for the ultimate party trick!! Just look at heelwork to music, a growing dog sport, here the dogs perform obedience routines combined with sequences of learnt tricks to make a ‘dance’. Watch the handlers carefully, they will be giving their dogs cues and signals to perform the tricks, although the with the top handlers these will be so subtle that it may be difficult to spot them!! Some of the dogs also may have practise the routine so many times that they know the majority by memory!

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH TRICK TRAINING

Get yourself a good trick training book such as “ 101 Dog Tricks” by Kyra Sundance and Chalcy or enrol on a heelwork to music class or trick training course.  Clicker training is a fantastic way to teach new commands and works wonders when teaching new tricks and is a great positive, reward based training method to use. The only other ‘equipment’ that you may need is a ‘target stick’, a happy and enthusiastic dog, and plenty of patience and rewards for your dog!

Happy trick training!!

Waiting for the click and treat!

TRAINING WEAVES AND CONTACTS

A little update on  Boots’ agility training progress. He has been doing fantastically well recently and has continued to show great determination and drive when training for his agility. In fact this is the only time I have trouble with his recall, when he knows we have finished training and I am trying to get him to come back so I can put him in the car, this is his love for agility!!!

We are getting some more practice in on the right hand weaves, left weaves are perfect, but when he sees me running down the right this just seems to put him out of sync slightly and he pulls out of the weaves early. So this week we are going to go back to teaching weave entries with 2 weave poles from many different angles and build from there. Unfortunately this weather is making me a slightly less enthusiastic trainer as it is just so cold and miserable!!!His contacts are coming along great with some very good advice from Anna at Zacton Dog Agility.

So speedy, so excited!

Due to me trying to train initially for running contacts, then I tried a wait (which was too reliant on me being in the right place at the right time and remembering the command!!!!)we had got to a stage where his drive over the equipment and my own inconsistencies in commands (I know I preach it to my own customers day in day out!!!) had led to him being hit and miss as to whether he actually got the contact or not. So Anna’s advice was to try the clicker method and we are now happilyclicker training the contact and he is grasping this well, I am going to build something to contact train him on in my own garden so we can practice daily.

Please give me a treat, I beg you!

We have just registered with the UKA and has his first UKA show in December where he will need to be measured before his first class, then we can compete in both Kennel club and UKA shows so will hopefully be in the running to do a fair few comps next year. Have a look at the video and pics of Boots having fun agility training (courtesy of Dan Burton, Zacton Dog Agility).

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